Pollsters Wrap Up Schooling Survey

Parents Were Asked To Share Their Views On Year-round Education

December 6, 1994|By MARIAN KING Staff Writer

A telephone survey of 1,500 parents with students at 15 elementary schools that might use year-round scheduling was completed on Monday, and the marketing company hired to conduct the poll for the Palm Beach County School Board must now analyze the results.

But even before the results are known, parents who expressed concern about the survey's fairness say they will ask the board to postpone action until alternatives can be considered.

Parents such as Lynn Koenig of Boca Raton and Cled Oakley of Boynton Beach said they would like to see all parents surveyed, not just 100 randomly selected from each of the 15 schools. Others want a public referendum about year-round scheduling placed on a ballot.

Still other parent groups are organizing petition drives against year-round schools, and some parents, such as groups at Citrus Cove and Sandpiper Shores elementary schools, have initiated their own surveys.

"I think everyone is curious to see the results, but we're also worried that it will not be a fair assessment of everyone's concerns," Koenig said. "We certainly do not want the telephone survey to be the only voice the district considers."

The telephone survey results will be presented to the public at a Jan. 18 board meeting. Profile Marketing Research vice president Judy A. Hoffman said on Monday she would not discuss responses until then.

At a parents' advisory meeting on year-round education held last week and attended by three School Board members, Koenig and about 50 other parents from J.C. Mitchell Elementary School said they wanted other options pursued.

Those options include construction of new schools and double sessions, with students assigned to morning and afternoon sessions.

Diane Heinz, Robert Hayes and Paulette Burdick - all new board members - said they welcome input but said there is no money to build new schools. "Year-round education is not an ideal solution," Burdick said.

Heinz said she campaigned in favor of year-round scheduling, but she told parents, "It is a Band-Aid."

The year-round proposal has been discussed by the school district for three years. Students would attend school in staggered sessions throughout the calendar year. The students would get several three-week breaks called intersessions, instead of one long summer break.

At J.C. Mitchell, where the student population is 1,140, year-round scheduling would reduce the number of students attending school at any one time by 230, to 910. The school was built to accommodate 677 students.

Governmental relations coordinator Wayne Nagy said he has received little feedback from parents about the survey, other than parents who speak up at school informational meetings.

"We have wrapped up all the meetings, but we are available for more sessions if needed," Nagy said.

Marsha Gilarmo of west Boca Raton, whose children attend Sandpiper Shores, and other parents are distributing brochures and information from an anti-year-round education group called Traditional Learning for Children (TLC).

The parents plan to ask the board in January to build more schools or consider other options besides year-round education.